Does a Juvenile Record Get Wiped out at Age 18?

As people get older and more mature, they likely want to forget about those mistakes they made in their juvenile years. Additionally, they likely hope that no one finds out about their past. Depending upon the circumstances, you may be able to have your juvenile records sealed or expunged. However, you should know that this is not automatic and though your juvenile charges will not show up on background checks, there certain government agencies that will still be able to access your records.

Overview

Expungement, also known as sealing, of your juvenile records is basically closing them off to public access. Once criminal records have been sealed, you may legally tell employers, landlords, and others that you have no prior convictions and your records will appear as if the convictions never happened. However, you should know, that though the records will be closed to public access, there are certain government agencies that will still be able to access them. This means that if you’re charged for another crime in your adult life, the court can consider those prior convictions when charging you.

Qualifications

According to Montoya Shaffer, the Best criminal lawyer in Philadelphia, each state has their own rules regarding expungement of records, but there are some similarities as well. Basically, after you turn 18, you can apply to have your juvenile record sealed. In Oregon, though, you must wait for five years since your last contact with the juvenile court. Most states will allow you to have minor violations and misdemeanors expunged- however, felonies will always be there. Additionally, if you were charged, but never convicted, you can have those records sealed.

Records that Can’t Be Sealed

As a general rule, you’re not allowed to have DUI charges expunged. Some of the other criminal records that you cannot have expunged include serious drug charges, violent felonies, and most sexual crimes. Additionally, if you are currently involved with criminal activity or you are on probation, you cannot have your records sealed. Finally, if you have had criminal convictions as an adult, if you are currently being prosecuted for a crime, or if you have had any other records sealed in the last ten years, it is not likely that they will seal the records of your previous crimes.

How to Petition for Expungement

In order to have your juvenile records expunged, you’ll need to file an application with the probation department or juvenile court. You will need to contact the court clerk about details on which forms must be filed and where. In most cases, you’ll have to pay a fee. The court will then schedule a hearing to decide whether or not you meet the criteria for having your records sealed. Even if you do qualify, they still have the right to deny your request if it is in the public’s best interest.

Many people have heard about the mess in Ferguson, Missouri, that happened when Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown at close range. On November 24th, the Grand Jury decided to not indict Officer Wilson for murder charges, thus dismissing the case. This was based on the fact that the evidence (including the autopsy) showed that Brown had tried to assault Officer Wilson, and that he had reason to be fearful. Now that that is over, it’s important for us to take a look at the laws that we have in place all over the country, and to see if we should be analyzing them any differently.

How Are People Suggesting That We Deal With This?

At this point, there is a grassroots campaign that is being promoted online for the White House to start looking at a “Mike Brown Law.” What does this law do? In short, it makes it so that police officers of all sorts (state, local, and county) would have to wear some sort of camera on their person all of the time. The reason that this whole thing would even help is because there is proof that dash cams, which are on many police cars and even some passenger vehicles, have helped to reduce police brutality in certain areas. If they were on the officer’s person, then all of the evidence that would be needed for a particular case would be right there, on the police officer.

The White House has responded at this point and has stated that they are looking into this as a potential solution to these sorts of cases. There are, of course, other options that are being looked at as well. Some police stations have already required this of their police officers in order to prepare for it.

This is definitely a hot button topic that needs to be explored in more detail. What do you think? Do you believe that this whole thing is an indication of a greater issue that is happening in our country? Are there laws that seem to favor those who have privilege of some sort? Or is there something bigger going on?

As you likely know, President Obama signed an executive order that had overarching results for those who are in the United States illegally. It ended up granting some extra time for those who have come to the United States in order to stay safe or protected from the bad things that are going on in their home countries. Because of this executive order, several Republican governors have threatened to sue President Obama, and the Republicans in Congress have threatened to impeach him. But do they have a case? Let’s take a quick look at how it breaks down

The Case For Impeachment

Here are some of the arguments that would come forward if the Republicans were to seek for President Obama’s impeachment. These are just beliefs and have not been proven at this time.

This executive order is “overstepping” the President’s bounds to be able to make laws and perform other duties.

The President has failed to enforce a number of different laws, including the No Child Left Behind Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The Case Against Impeachment
Here are some of the arguments that are presented when talking about impeachment and why it should not be done.

It would only hurt the Republican Congress (which it will be as of late January) and would tar their reputations more because the public believes that there are more important issues that need to be dealt with.

The only impeachment trials that have happened, which were against Nixon and Clinton, were for much more egregious crimes and accusations, and only Nixon was impeached.

Other Presidents (specifically, President G.W. Bush and President Reagan) have brought forward similar (not the same, but similar) executive orders to help deal with the issue until a resolution could occur.

So, as you can see, there are arguments on both sides. At this point, even some higher up Republicans are telling other Republicans to not even mention impeachment, so it may be unlikely that it even happens. What do you think about this whole ordeal?

The very word ‘fraud’ is basically used to describe any plan that was done to trick someone or a group of people into something that was either illegal or that benefited the person committing the fraud at the expense of victims. Wire fraud is that exact same thing, except it is fraud that happens over wires and other electronic communication.

What Makes ‘Wire Fraud’ Wire Fraud

The suspect has to have took part in an illegal scheme to scam another person, business or organization out of their money with the intention of doing so, that it was and they had to have used a wire or some form of similar electronic communications, especially interstate communications, to scam that person. Wire communications covers nearly everything electronic: e-mail, credit cards, TV, internet, telephones, and so forth.

Understanding the Motivations of a Scammer

A scammer would want to use wire fraud in the first place in order to benefit financially. For this reason, the most common type of wire fraud that has been seen is telemarketing fraud, as it is done over the phone and usually yields the best results (it’s easy to trick someone into revealing their bank account or their credit card information).

But due to internet essentially becoming as important as electricity, it would make sense for the internet to become a source of wire fraud as well. A person with the intent to commit wire fraud could easily send out unsolicited e-mails to many different addresses, and attempt to convince people that they need to yield personal/financial information. That’s all it takes for the scammer to have easy access to the person’s financial accounts and credit cards

At that point, the scammers would be nearly free to do what they want with your money. They could either withdraw every last dollar from your account or take it incrementally in small amounts over time. You would pay easy attention to seeing hundreds or thousands of dollars being withdraw from your account, but having small increments of twenty or thirty dollars being withdrawn at random intervals would be much less noticeable.

The good news is that these scams are quite easy to detect, so you’ll have to use your own judgment if you feel that you are being scammed. Besides, it’s probably not a good idea to yield your bank account or credit card information to somebody you don’t know anyway.

When it comes to incorporating your business, you are creating a legal entity that is separate from yourself. The corporation has debts, and you have personal liabilities. Neither one is responsible for the bills of the other. This means that if you ever file for personal bankruptcy, it should not have any effect on the corporation’s assets. However, you should keep in mind that you cannot quickly incorporate your business just before you decide to declare bankruptcy.

Types of Bankruptcy

There are two forms of bankruptcy: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. If you’re trying to safeguard your business, the one you choose is very important. Filing for Chapter 13 puts you into a multi-year payment plan that is approved by the court. Every month, you pay the trustee what you have left after paying your reasonable and necessary living expenses. The trustee divides up your money and pays your creditors. Since your debt is getting paid down, your business is not at risk for being liquidated.

However, if you file Chapter 7, the trustee will have control of your assets that are not exempt and will sell them off to pay your debts.

Your unsecured creditors will not get 100 percent of what you owe them with either Chapter 7 or 13, the balances will be discharged so that you will not be responsible for paying them.

Business Assets

If you have incorporated your business and you file for Chapter 7, the trustee is unable to liquidate your business’ assets. After all, the assets are not yours- they belong to your business. Therefore, they’re not considered to be part of your estate. However, the problem comes up when you’re a shareholder.

Stock Shares

If you own stock in your business, those are your personal property. Therefore, the bankruptcy trustee can sell them off- which could have an effect on your business. The person who purchases the stock will now own the business- or a portion of it, instead of you. While it’s possible that the trustee could do this, it’s not likely if you have a small business and selling the shares would bring in very little money for your creditors.